by Department of Housing and Urban Development
Tuesday May 20th, 2014 8:26 PM

The HUD information that reveals the "Public Housing Authority Executive Compensation" for San Francisco, Oakland, and other local Bay Area cities offers some transparency for those that are interested. The available information also includes compensation information for other Public Housing Authority (PHA) executives all across the nation.

Public Housing Authority Executive Compensation - 2014

Released by HUD on May 16, 2014

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is committed to providing greater transparency around Public Housing Authority (PHA) Executive Compensation, including salaries, and monitoring compliance with the statutory cap on the use of Federal funds for such salaries.

In addition to providing increased public transparency and monitoring compliance with the law, HUD is committed to sharing this information with PHA boards to ensure greater accountability.

The 2013 Appropriations Act for HUD capped the amount of Federal Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher funds that could be used for PHA salaries at $155,500 per employee. The HUD Appropriations Bill for 2014 repeats this same provision. Any amount of salary above that level must be paid for with other funds.

Public housing agencies receive Federal funding to administer Federal housing assistance programs, but they are state or locally-run entities. This means that while Congress has capped the amount of Federal Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher dollars that may be used for executive salaries, other Federal, state or local funds may be used to exceed that cap.

HUD does not have the authority to set compensation beyond the Federal statutory limit on salaries; however, we believe that transparency is the best way to ensure accountability and reasonableness in salaries.

Click below for the link to the PHA executive salary information based on survey information sent to HUD during 2013 by over 3,900 PHA's...

HUD DISCLAIMER: This is self-reported compensation data collected from the 2013 Executive Compensation Survey (52725). Salaries and bonuses, including salaries and bonuses from Section 8 and Section 9 funds, as well as employee titles, were extracted directly from the survey data. Employees with a total compensation below $155,500 were not required to provide the portion from Section 8 and Section 9 Funds. No changes were made to the data reported by the housing authority where no on-site audit was conducted. A total of 3,960 housing authorities reported. Of the 3,960 agencies on this list, 3,345 housing authorities were evaluated for data anomalies using financial data submissions for FY 2013. While this internal evaluation does not ensure accuracy, the data submitted by these housing authorities appear reasonable. Included in the 3,345 successfully validated submissions are 23 housing authorities who underwent an on-site compliance audit. Data entry errors were discovered but there was no evidence of non-compliance or intentional misreporting. The compensation data within this spreadsheet has been “corrected” for those 23 agencies per the onsite review. Of the remaining 615 agencies, which we have asterisked, these could not be evaluated due to data entry errors, unapproved or unavailable financial data, or data anomalies when compared to 2013 financial data. HUD will continue to examine these 615 submissions in an on-going effort to obtain more accurate compensation data and will update the information online as it is available.

Top Federally-Funded Compensation in 2013 Paid to Public Housing Authority Executives

The Housing and Urban Development Department reported on May 16 that 100 percent of public housing authorities complied with a congressionally-mandated executive salary cap in 2013. PHAs -- which are state and locally-run entities that receive a significant amount of federal funding -- were prohibited in fiscal years 2012 and 2013 from using federal Section 8 and Section 9 funds to pay the salaries of their top officials in excess of $155,500. Lawmakers extended the prohibition in the fiscal 2014 HUD appropriations law, and the current cap is $157,100, based on Level IV of the Executive Schedule pay scale.

In the current statute, however, the cap does not cover total cash compensation. So, some top PHA officials earned more than $155,500 last year in federally-funded salary and bonus because of a loophole in the law. Below is a list of who received the most compensation (salary and bonus) from Section 8 and Section 9 funds at the country’s PHAs in 2013. This list does not necessarily include the highest-paid PHA jobs in the country, many of which use a mix of funding streams to compensate employees. We’ve listed the total compensation including federal and non-federal funds for certain positions where applicable, if the person received more money on top of compensation from the federal coffers.

The highest-paid PHA executive in 2013 was the city manager of the Santa Monica Housing Authority, who received a total compensation of $353,484 (salary, no bonus). That figure does not include any Section 8 or Section 9 funds.

Top Federally-Funded Compensation in 2013 Paid to Public Housing Authority Executives

1. $218,750 – Chief Finance Officer, Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta, Georgia. The total compensation for this position in 2013, including federal and non-federal funds, was $305,350.

2. $200,750 – Interim President and CEO, Housing Authority of the City of Atlanta, Georgia. The total compensation for this position in 2013, including federal and non-federal funds, was $306,350.